As a kid growing up in the 1990's, I heard about the buzz on Celebrity Cruises - especially on the television ads of yore where Tina Turner's "The Best" plays over scenes of various ongoings of their sailings. I fantasized about how delicious and upscale the food was, how exciting the entertainment was, and how numerous the activities were. Let's flash forward to May 10-15, 2010 - the 5-night western Caribbean voyage from Miami (located five hours from the Tampa area) on the Celebrity Century; on the first day I expected things in which the reviews of the ship lauded. However, things were not what they seemed in them - and that's merely the first cruise with Celebrity Cruises.

When sailing out at sea, the ship rocked, causing my roommate to become seasick (that's when the acupressure bands came in handy) and miss out on the activities, which were rather boring. I don't blame it for being in service since the holiday season of 1995, but as soon as it gets refurbished I hope that they would rectify this problem. Luckily, I managed to enjoy (or rather fake enjoy) the cruise despite the disadvantage.

The cabin was generally comfortable, but the main issue was the toilet paper in the bathroom - it was simply hard to dispense. I had to lift the lid up to roll the desired amount of it, and if one factored in my personal health issue that comes once monthly (which happened aboard), it's pretty aggravating. Read more